At @festivaldecannes this year, Bectu and our French partner unions are standing together to say enough is enough on long hours culture in film and TV 🎬
We have issued a joint statement with our French union partners for an immediate shift in industry practices to prioritise fair working hours, protected rest breaks, and sustainable careers for film and audiovisual workers.
Behind the glitzy image of film & TV, long hours working culture is endemic with broken turnaround being an all too common feature.
That means being asked back to work with less than 11 hours’ rest between shifts.
Workers tell us burnout, unsafe journeys home, accidents, poor mental health and missing out on family life because long hours have become part of the job.
At Cannes, Bectu and our French partner unions are standing together to say enough is enough.
We asked Bectu members on the Broken Turnaround walk last week around production offices what this campaign meant to them 🎦
Video description: Bectu members walking round production offices discussing impact of long hours culture. #cannes #cannesfilmfestival
Despite launching a new radio station last year for £500,000 STV have imposed a real terms pay cut for their staff this year. We urge STV management to get back to the negotiating table to work on a deal that is fair and respectful to staff.
Bectu members have taken strike action today at STV, alongside their @nujofficial colleagues, over a pay freeze 📢
The pay freeze was announced by STV shortly before Christmas, following on from the company asking Ofcom for permission to produce a single News at 6 programme across both of its licence areas.
The regulator announced last week that it was delaying publishing that decision until after the Scottish elections in May. The controversial move is opposed by 84% of viewers, as well as the leaders of the five main political parties in Scotland, and staff and Unions within STV.
Paul McManus, Bectu negotiations officer for Scotland, said: “Staff at STV have been left with no choice but to take this action. They are being asked to take a real terms pay cut against the backdrop of rocketing prices and when they are already overworked.
“As usual, it is workers being asked to take the financial hit while STV seems able to find money to invest in other areas of the business.”
Let’s tackle long hours culture in UK film and tv together 🕰️ To start our Broken Turnaround week of action Bectu members were out today in various locations in London and Media City to say you can say no to Broken Turnaround. Read @variety@kjyossman for the latest on today’s walk. We are calling on the Producers Alliance for Cinema and Television (Pact) and the wider industry to:
- Enforce safe working hours and proper rest periods
- Guarantee regular, protected breaks
- Make overtime voluntary, not expected
- Apply premium penalty rates to minimise its use
- Commit to collective agreements that protect crew
Sign our end long hours culture petition we have launched as part of the weeks action via this post in our bio✍️
That’s all... It doesn’t have to be all devil wears prada 😈 Whether you’re a Fashion Designer, Fashion Stylist, Hair Stylist, Makeup Artist, Photographer, Tailor, Assistant or in another role, you can be a part of growing @bectufashionuk branch by joining Bectu today. Latest write up of the state of the sector survey in this months @bigissueuk 📖
2,000 job cuts at the BBC will be devastating for BBC workers and for the creative industries as a whole.
BBC staff are already under significant pressure after previous redundancy rounds and Bectu will be engaging with the BBC to understand the implications of these further cuts.
After a decade of funding cuts, more cuts undermine the BBC’s public mission. At a time of fake news and growing media concentration, the UK needs a strong, sustainably funded BBC.
The Government must ensure that Charter Renewal puts the BBC’s funding on a more secure, long-term pathway and prevent our national broadcaster facing death by a thousand cuts.
Alt text: BBC office background black box overlain “BBC job cuts are a devastating blow for the creative industries”
On the @togetheralliance march today, the largest March against the far right in British history with Bectu & @prospectunion arm in arm with one voice united 📢
The collapse of Angels in the Asylum and the failure to pay those who worked on the production clearly demonstrates the precarity and lack of protections that a largely freelance workforce continues to face as @deadline has laid out.
This case underlines why the long-promised appointment of a Freelance Champion is now urgent. Workers operating as freelancers repeatedly fall through the gaps of employment law, losing out entirely when productions collapse.
Creative workers are treated as “freelancers” in contract, so denied both the protections of employment law and access to basic safety nets. A properly empowered Freelance Champion could play a crucial role in addressing these systemic failures—pressing for reforms that reflect the reality of how freelance labour is used in the creative industries, and ensuring workers are not left unprotected when things go wrong.
In the week leading up to the Cannes Film Festival (scheduled to begin on May 12th), Bectu are urging that you formally request compensatory rest whenever turnaround times are encroached.
Bectu also ask that you report persistent offenders so that a "rogue's gallery" of companies consistently violating working time regulations can be compiled. Please send any relevant information to [email protected].
The "winner" of this dubious honour will receive a specially presented tin can.
If you are attending the Cannes Film Festival, or know of anyone who is, please get in touch. Bectu intend to broadcast this message to the executives who appear oblivious to the detrimental impact that the long hours culture is having on the workforce.
This is a matter of paramount importance; we need to change the culture. For that reason, your assistance in amplifying the message regarding the impact of broken turnaround on the industry is greatly appreciated.
To find out more about broken turnaround, including your legal rights please visit our webpage via our Linktree. Link in bio.
Image description in alt text.
Bectu welcomes the government’s commitment to place the BBC’s Charter on a permanent footing 📜
As part of this critical moment for the BBC’s future, Bectu members, both BBC staff and freelancers, took their concerns directly to the Secretary of State during a scheduled ministerial engagement last night alongside Head of Bectu Philippa Childs.
Members set out, first hand, how years of cuts, political interference and repeated funding squeezes have affected the workforce and shaped the union’s call for a stronger, more stable constitutional settlement for the BBC.
🎥 Young workers in media and entertainment face the same challenges worldwide: low pay, long hours, harassment and barriers to entry. That's why a global industry, needs a global union movement ✊
This week marked the launch of the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Freelancers, a new cross‑party group created to ensure the realities of freelance work are properly represented in policy and legislation.
Chaired by @pollybillington MP, the APPG will begin by focusing on the creative industries, where freelance working is deeply embedded, before expanding its scope across other sectors. The group’s early priorities include learning from the impact of COVID on freelancers, improving understanding of freelance working models, and strengthening financial support, protections and long‑term stability.
Other members include Lord Banner KC, Baroness Caine of Kentish Town and Matt Turmaine MP who were elected as Officers.
The APPG secretariat is provided by @bectuunion , @alcs_uk , @dacsforartists , @directors_uk and @freelancersmaketheatrework . The group committed to ensuring that wider sector organisations and stakeholders are kept informed about and invited to contribute to the upcoming work of the APPG.
Find out more about the new APPG via the link in bio 🔗
